


Lullaby

by museaway



Category: Smallville
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Sappy, happy!Clex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-03-28
Updated: 2004-03-28
Packaged: 2017-11-28 14:11:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/675283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/museaway/pseuds/museaway
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Parenthood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lullaby

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to my anonymous benefactor who bought me six months additional paid time for [my Livejournal] account. Thank you very, very much. I'm both surprised & touched. This is for you.
> 
> And thanks to coffeejunkii for the idea. ^_^
> 
> I'd like to think that this baby -- due to its cheekbones & hair -- is somehow the actual biological child of Clark & Lex. You can think whatever you like. Also, I realize that in all likelihood, there would be a baby monitor in the room, but please try and overlook that detail. I'd really appreciate it.

_Sleep, little pigeon,_  
 _And fold your wings,_  
 _Little blue pigeon_  
 _With velvet eyes;_  
 _Sleep to the singing_  
 _Of mother-bird swinging_  
 _Swinging the nest_  
 _Where her little one lies._  
  
-from "Japanese Lullaby" by Eugene Fields  
  
...  
  
Clark opens his eyes and blinks into the dark. Yawning, he stretches an arm across his face and turns over, pressing his nose into the pillowcase and breathing in the lingering scents of fabric softener and sex. Smiles when he catches a note of Lex's cologne. He listens for the sound of Lex's quiet breathing but is met with the hum of the air conditioner. Ticking of the front hall clock. Rustling of sheets when he moves his legs.  
  
No Lex.  
  
Reaching out a hand, Clark finds the sheets beside him still warm. No sounds from the adjacent bathroom. Nothing from the closet. He curls his fingers into the spot where Lex lay only minutes before and listens more intently, ears focusing on the room two doors away.  
  
There. There, in the midst of the clock and the air conditioning, he can hear it: Lex's breathing, slow and steady. His heartbeat. Blood rushing through his veins. Lying in bed, listening to the sounds that tell him Lex is alive, Clark breathes easier.  
  
He focuses on the steady heartbeat, the familiar lullaby that carries him off to sleep at night. The breath that's usually wrapped around his ear. And...singing. Lex crooning in a soft voice Clark hasn't ever heard him use before. It's nothing like the low, wet whispers he licks along Clark's neck. Nothing like his business tone when he's barking orders into his cellphone while waiting for the elevator. This is so very different, quiet words in which Clark can hear him smiling, and behind it all, the faint gurgling of a baby's laughter.  
  
A smile breaks out across Clark's face, and he rolls out of bed. Pads to the closet. Takes out his robe and ties it loosely around his waist. Opens the bedroom door and walks down the hallway as silently as he can manage. Turning the knob slowly, he opens the door to the room where the sounds originate.  
  
Lex is seated by the window in a patch of moonlight, rocking slowly, singing to the baby in his arms. Faintly outlined in shades of blue and grey. He doesn't look up when the door clicks closed behind him, but he reduces his voice to nonsensical mumurs and leans down to press a kiss to the baby's forehead.  
  
"Couldn't sleep?" Clark whispers, resting an arm along the back of the chair and kneeling down next to him.  
  
Lex shakes his head, beaming, and Clark isn't sure he's ever seen Lex so utterly content. He's tracing his fingers over the tiny cheekbones. Over wisps of ginger hair.  
  
"He was crying."  
  
Clark nestles his head against Lex's arm.  
  
"The pediatrician said it's best to let him cry sometimes, or he'll get too dependent."  
  
Lex sighs, his fingers stilling. "I know."  
  
Tilting his face upward, Clark studies Lex's profile. The curve of his mouth. Arch of his nose. Calm and focused upon this little bit of life in his arms. Happy. Lex is happy. Clark smiles up at him, and Lex turns his head. Meets Clark's eyes.  
  
"You're a good dad."  
  
Those might be tears just then in Lex's eyes when he leans forward to kiss Clark. Says "I love you" against his mouth.  
  
Clark says it back, and they fall asleep side by side framed in the window and the moonlight, joined hands resting atop a tiny heartbeat.


End file.
